A survey suggesting prairie farmers are skeptical about the results of the barley plebiscite and reluctant to see an open market introduced Aug. 1 won’t deter the government from moving ahead.
“It won’t have any impact on our plans,” said Conrad Bellehumeur, communications director for CWB minister Chuck Strahl.
“We have changed the regulations and so effective Aug. 1 there will be a dual market for barley.”
In its annual survey of permit book holders, conducted in April by Ottawa-based The Gandalf Group, the CWB asked respondents to agree or disagree with a series of statement about the barley marketing issue and the plebiscite.
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Among the results:
- 59 percent agreed that an Aug. 1 implementation date was unrealistic, 36 percent disagreed and five percent had no opinion.
- 59 percent agreed with a statement that the plebiscite was designed to produce the result the federal government wanted.
- 56 percent agreed that the wording of the plebiscite made it difficult for farmers to know which of the three options (single desk, dual market, open market) to select.
- 54 percent said the wording of the options leaves the meaning of the results in doubt.
- Asked to choose between two options, 48 percent supported the single desk and 46 percent the open market.
The CWB has launched a legal challenge against the government’s plans to change the board’s marketing mandate through regulation by legislation. A similar case has been launched by a group called Friends of the CWB.
The board says an Aug. 1 implementation will create chaos in the market and create problems for producers, exporters, maltsters and customers.
During a June 21 news conference releasing the survey results, CWB chair Ken Ritter downplayed the significance of the plebiscite, which saw farmers vote 38 percent for the single desk, 48 percent for a dual market and 14 percent for an open market.
He said farmers viewed the vote as simply an opinion survey and not something that provides a clear mandate for the government to act.
“Mr. Strahl never called this a plebiscite until very recently,” he said. “It was always a survey and advice to the minister.”
Bellehumeur said the suggestion is wrong that farmers didn’t think they were voting in a plebiscite that could result in changes to the CWB.
“This was a plebiscite, no ifs, ands or buts.”
He said Strahl made it clear before and during the campaign that he wanted advice from farmers on what to do. And while not describing it as a “binding” plebiscite, he did say he wouldn’t be asking the question with the intention of ignoring the results.
Ritter said the board’s own survey shows that farmers want changes in barley marketing, but not to the degree that they want to end the CWB or make sweeping changes to the organization.
For example, 60 percent of respondents said they were against anything that would weaken the CWB and the same number said the government has a responsibility to ensure the board remains strong and viable in a dual market.
Also, 90 percent said any decision to end the single desk must be made by farmers, not government.
Bellehumeur added there is no doubt about the results, with only 38 percent of voters supporting the single desk.
“Sixty-two percent wanted something other than the single desk wheat board,” he said. “We feel there is a consensus in support of our dual market proposal.”
Pollster David Herle of The Gandalf Group, which did the CWB survey, disagreed, saying the survey shows that not all farmers voting for the dual market option had the same understanding of what that might mean for the CWB.
“It’s misleading to lump dual market supporters together with open market people in terms of their attitude towards this issue,” Herle said. “They’re not very similar at all.”
The survey shows dual market supporters want the CWB to have a “very strong role” in barley marketing and want a system that combines that with marketing choice.
